Psalm 61:3

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

(This is the first in a series of sermons on our Church's mission statement. To read the subsequent sermons click here: 1, 2, 3, 4.)

If it is not of God it will fail, and fail spectacularly. If it is of
God, you cannot stop it. That is the
advice from Gamaliel, a famous teacher of the Law, a Pharisee who apparently
also trained Saint Paul in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament.

Although
Gamaliel was not a Christian, certainly not an apostle or disciple of Jesus, he
speaks the truth. If the 12 disciples of
Jesus were simply a fringe group of lunatics then their crazy cult would end in
destruction for them. The Romans would
put an end to it.

If,
however, they spoke the truth, if their message and their movement were of God,
then there was nothing in this world that could stop them. God is the master of history. He is the Lord of time and space. Things always work out according to His
will and you cannot oppose Him.

And
what was it that these men were doing?
They were preaching and teaching that Jesus was the Christ, the
prophesied King of Israel. They made
known publicly that, although He had been executed on a Roman cross, God raised
Him from death and made Him the Leader and Savior of the world. Through the death and resurrection of this
Christ God gave repentance and forgiveness to all people.

It
is called “the Word of God” and it has endured to this day. It has flourished to this day. I guess that means this Word must have been
“of God”.

Too
often the church, however, has not acted as if it were of God, but rather of
the world. It happens to whole Church
bodies, what we call denominations.
These church bodies become so enamored with the world, with its
definitions of success and relevance, that they forget who it is that called
them in the first place.

Sometimes
this takes the form of putting one part of God’s Word over against the
other. Too much Law, and church becomes
a motivational speech on how to be a better person. Too much Gospel and church becomes a
feel-good session where we are all just supposed to get along and ignore our
sins.

Other
times it happens that denominations reject all of God’s Word and simply do
whatever they think will make them popular with the world. All of these efforts are futile, of course,
because they are not of God. They are of
the world, and they will fall.

Congregations
can be tempted in this direction too. We
want more members, more money, more participation, and so we try to draw people
in with gimmicks, schemes, and trends. We
change and adapt to give people what we think they want, rather than what God
says they need.

One
big problem is that people’s desires are always changing, trends are fleeting
by definition. And so you become the
church that is always chasing the wind trying to keep people in the pews rather
than the congregation of the unchanging truth of God’s unchanging Word.

Christian
families, too, are tempted to be of the world, rather than of God. The family is not man’s invention any more
than the Church is. God created it and
He has very specific ideas on how it ought to operate. Husbands and wives, parents and children,
extended relatives are all part of God’s plan to create firm and established societies
where the Gospel can flourish.

Now
we have begun to think that we can redefine the family. For married couples it is often an
arrangement of convenience, either financially or emotionally, or both. People get married because it suits them, for
now. And when it doesn’t, well, goodbye.

Children,
in some cases, have become accessories, or pets, who are to be taken when
wanted and rejected when not. They are
given what they want, after all, it would be a horrible thing if someone told
them “no”. Or, on the opposite end of
the spectrum, they are disciplined and pressured into being perfect, faultless
kids with straight A’s, and a shining athletic record, on their way to achieving
the world’s definition of happiness and success.

Speaking
of happiness and success, even individual Christians get pulled down into the
mire of worldly definitions of these things.
Happiness is getting what I want, whether it is a pint of ice cream or a
vacation or my dream home. Success is
what everyone else says it is: money and power so that I can do and have what I
want, so that I can be happy.

Forget
God’s definitions. Forget what God has
called you to be, what He has created the family to be, what He has called the
congregation to be, what He has said the whole Church on earth should look
like. We know better. The world knows better. And we are of the World.

But
that is precisely the point of the ministry of Jesus Christ, that we would no
longer be of the world, but of God. The death and resurrection of Jesus has
redeemed us, purchased us from all sin, from death, and the influence of the
world. You belong to God and so you are of
God.

The
Church is not ours to shape according to our will, but God’s to follow where He
leads. This congregation does not belong
to you, nor to me. It has been purchased
with the blood of Jesus and called by His Gospel. Your family, too, is God’s family, His
creation, with a calling from Him. And
you, you are not your own, you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God
with your body.

You
may have noticed that our congregation has a new mission
statement: “Compelled by the grace of God, Trinity Lutheran Church and School
forgives, teaches, and serves in the name of Jesus.” This did not come out of thin air, but was
drawn from the Scriptures through much study, prayer, and discussion.

This
is what it means to be of God. This is what we are called, by the grace of
God, to be and to do: His people who forgive sins because
we have been forgiven, His people who teach His Word
because it is precious and life-giving, His people who serve others with the
same love and compassion that Jesus Christ has shown us.

The
reason churches and individuals get lost is that they forget the proper
order. Everyone wants God to be on their
side. But the truth is that we are
called to be on God’s side. And God
never fails.

We
do not need to spend any time at all wondering what God wants us to do with our
Church, our family, our selves. He has
told us what He wants us to do with His Church, His family, His son or
daughter.

The
forgiveness of sins, the teaching of God’s Word, and serving God’s people are of
God, and because of that all the might of the devil and the world will
not overthrow them. The Lord will
establish us in this so that His Church may never cease to preach and teach
that Jesus is the Christ.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

You may think that you know me because you read my blog. But you are wrong. You don't know me.

The internet is a wonderful thing, and it allows us to communicate with people all over the world. It also, however, allows us to create alternate versions of ourselves, avatars they are sometimes called. So you don't know me. You know my avatar.

And this can be confusing for people. Today people gush over the "raw" or "authentic" posts or articles that they read. They assume that they are getting a real person. We become "friends" on Facebook. Maybe we think we have some really close Facebook friends. But it is all an illusion.

What goes on the internet only goes on through a series of filters. This happens in personal communication too, but the filter there is only the human brain. With the internet, blogs, Facebook, etc. the medium also serves as a filter.

I have been thinking about this post for weeks. It has been stewing in my brain. And you are reading it on a computer screen with no idea who I am or what state of mind I am in as I write. What I put on this blog is all intentional. It creates a persona for me on the internet. Some are better than others at this, but everyone is doing it.

Some try to get around this but being "real". But this too is just a construct. They are only as real as they are comfortable being. They are only as real as their readers will allow them to be. They are just real enough to keep you coming back for more.

And there is really nothing wrong with that. I do not begrudge any of the bloggers I follow for not being completely themselves on the internet. If blogging helps you find a voice or a following, more power to you.
I just don't want my readers, or anyone else, to be confused. What you get on the internet is an avatar, not a real human being, no matter how raw or authentic they may sound.

Enjoy the blogs, but get to know some real people, ones that you can actually see, touch, and even smell.